West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-09-30

WUere udNc Stcu tuO X ueCouo III
saken and his seed begging bread.
(Applause.) If it were true in the
days of that old writer, it is not true
to-day, for there great many good
people upon this earth now with will
ling hands and eager spirits, who
are suffering the distresses of pow
erty. despite their faith and prayers.
applause.
A wordly7wise gospel has taken
the place of the gospel of improvi-
dence which / read to you, and from
natural causes, has taken the place
of it 80 that the other gospel cannot
be consistently preached, has taken
the place of it so evidently that a
minister, q friend of mine-and a
most lovable manufactured to me
that the sermon on the mount is not
the gospel of Christ. He never would
have sald that if Christ's words are
to-day practically true. 1 do not
say that Jesus spoke untruth; but
1 do say, without the slightest hesi-
tation, that, as society is organized
to-day, His words are not capable of
application to daily life. Applause
Men say that portion of the scrip
lures which is called the sermon on
the mount is impracticable. They
are the words of dreamer, Of man
who lived in the clouds, of an ideal
ist. Under the present state of
things they are just that. Gap
plause.) And one reason why that
sermon on the mount-which is the
most beautiful part of the New Tes-
tament-has been almost entirely
neglected by the pulpit is because
men have discovered that under the
present state of things it is an ideal
picture of human life. But why is
it so? Why is that scripture looked
upon now as merely poem? There
are many answers to that question;
many explanations why the words
of Christ and the facts of daily life
are impracticable.
(Condensed.) For instance, some say
the present social conditions are the re-
suit of the will of God: others say, there
are too many people in the world: and
others say, the poor are improvident.
These are some of the eXplana-
tions that are given to reconcile us
to the patent fact that the words
which l have lead from the scrip
lures cannot be applied to human
society now. But what is the real
reason that this gospel cannot now
bepreached by conscientious, God
fearing man? (Applause.) This is
the reason: "Consider the birds Of
the air; they SOW not; neither do
they reap, and yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Consider the
lilies of the field; they toll not
neither 10 they spin, and yet even
Solomon in all his glory was not ar
rayed like one Of these" SO might
YOU say Of men, Consider men, the
children of God, they have not to
over-toil, they have not to overreap,
they have not to ovcr-spin, and yet
their heavenly Father careth for
them-ir it were not for one thing,
that some of the children Of God
have locked up the storehouse Of
God against the others. (Tremen-
dous applause.
A man who looks at this earth to-
day, this beaming, blossoming, ,smil-
inc earth, and believes that poverty
is the result of some miscarriage
ment in the plans of the Creator is
far on the way to blank lunacy.
(Applause.)
Look at this earth You have |
but to tickle it and it laughs into
haryests in every field. Applause
You have but to stab it and it bleeds
with fountains of oil that are foun
tains of gladncss for the uses of men.
(Applause.) You have but to rip
open its sides, and everywhere myr-
lads of tons of ore and coal, more
than enough for all the wants of
man, appear. You have but to
search upon its surface and into its
depths and you cannot name hui
man want that might not be fully |
supplied by the great treasure that
the Creator has stored up against
the wants of His people just as
much as against the wants of the
birds of the air and the lilies Of the
field. (Great applause.)
believe that this Carpenter of
Nazareth meant a great deal more
than we have ever seen, until this
land doctrine was brought to the
front. / believe that we are now
beginning to see that that impracti-
cable portion of the New Testament,
which men have hitherto said was
an ideal dream, may become reali
ty. Applause We are beginning |
to see that it is possible for men to
have time and opportunity to cult
vate that which is best in them,
knowing that there is no danger but |
that they will get what they want to
eat and drink and wear tomorrow.
Applause } And that is prospect |
which when it is once formed in the |
miad of any man is sufficient to start |
in him a deeper religious life than
he ever knew before and such an en-
thusiasm as lie was never conscious
of before (Annlause.